Generally, active devices and passive devices are formed on and in a semiconductor substrate. Once formed, these active devices and passive devices may be connected to each other and to external devices using a series of conductive and insulative layers. These layers may help to interconnect the various active devices and passive devices as well as provide an electrical connection to external devices through, for example, a contact pad.
To form these interconnections within these layers, a series of photolithographic, etching, deposition, and planarization techniques may be employed. However, the use of such techniques has become more complicated as the size of active and passive devices have been reduced, causing a reduction in the size of the interconnects to be desired as well. As such, improvements in the formation and structure of the interconnects is desired in order to make the overall devices smaller, cheaper, and more efficient with fewer defects or problems.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.